JoeyFlex5

is there really any player in free agency, that has been a "must have" player? who also was asking for a respectable contract? 

stevie johnson? who cares. andre johnson? who cares. cecil shorts, REALLY... who cares. perrish cox? who cares. tramon williams? overpaid and who cares. chandler? who cares. vince wilfork? who cares.

i dont understand why so many act like these are must-have players, like any of these players need to be pursued and signed at all costs, not a single player in free agency is anything close to that status, and all of them offer a minor upgrade, a unjustified cap number, and question marks. 

calm down folks, stop being so impatient. by the time the draft is over, everyone will either be praising ozzie once again, or they will be losing their minds even more because he had an incredible draft but didnt take a wr in the first round. 

there are 2 players i have seen in free agency that i think should be heavily pursued by us, that is housler and cameron, because TE is unlikely to be filled via the draft, everybody else on the market is really just "meh"

It happened!

 

I can't imagine the pain to get that on but looking pretty good.

yea i sat through 8 hours to get the basework done for the sleeve and i was completely fine, but then this one was ROUGH. that inner arm area is seriously painful lol, when the artist starts coloring real heavily there you can feel that same burn throughout ur whole body. if i had to suggest someone avoid an area to tattoo, it would be that exact area.

 ravens portion of my maryland sleeve, got it done yesterday and naturally i got "pics or it didnt happen" response lol so here it is

at the moment nobody. steelers have done nothing but extend roethlisberger to an absurd contract that he will not be able to live up to due to constant injuries and age. bengals have done literally nothing as far as i know. browns are just being jerks and trying to hold hostage players that dont wanna be on scrub teams. and the ravens made out like thieves on the ngata trade and a majority of the NFL world doesnt even realize it.

we'll have a better idea once the draft is over. 

althought if i absolutely had to give the edge, id give it to the ravens for free'ing up 8.5mil in desperately needed cap space, being able to restructure sizzle, and the extra 4th and 5th rounder we got from detroit could prove to be HUGE, all while staying patient and sticking to the comp pick formula, once we sign jennings(i can feel it coming) i think the ravens will already be saying checkmate.

This is an excellent post and I agree wholeheartedly that the Ravens will no if he is a bust or not during the offseason, maybe even before training camp.  If he is, expect Ozzie to attempt to trade him.

but he gets raving reviews every training camp. i dont know if its the reporting staff trying to hype up a busted first round pick or if he actually performs great when there is no pressure, ie. in real game situations. 

i still think the potential is there, if he can just go out there and play and stop overthinking and panicking on every snap then he will show why we picked him in the first, the kid has undeniable ability as a disruptive force playing in the box, but he has always been questionable in the open field being left on an island. the problem is, the coaching staff has realized this problem and they still scheme him in a way that plays to his strengths and he still cant do anything right, i think the mental aspect of the nfl is just hampering him big time. if he can understand the play book in his 3rd year and get his head on straight, and finally go out there and just PLAY instead of over thinking everything, he will be fine, but if he doesnt show a grasp on the playbook by year 3 then he is gone and its a missed pick.

idk how wilfork is a target for us, he is a pure NT and we have a young and cheap pure NT already... 

hes still wilfork tho..

That's exactly the point I'm getting at here.  We have interest in plenty of guys.  Just because it isn't reported doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

man stop using logic and start panicking! we know ur edgy and different from all of us but ur just taking it too far 

get ur umbrellas people, cuz rmw's making it rain facts. 

within the next month, there are gonna multiple moves made that generally go under the radar for the rest of the nfl world, and we are gonna be singing ozzies praises. 

the one thing that irks me though, is that no team has seemed interested in rob houslers services very much, and there have still been no links between him and the ravens. his price cant be through the roof right now, and TE is the one hole that needs to be addressed in free agency, everything else can be done through the draft but it is a stellar TE market, we might as well get the guy with the massive potential and low stat line(due to bad qb play) because he could be of immense help to our offense and should come relatively cheap.

Would you say theres a receiver out there as good as those two at 26 or at least at 18-26?

as good as what 2, gordon and gurley? id say the closest thing would be jaelen strong if hes there, but ive also been vocally on board with gordon or gurley in the first, idk if youre in the draft talk section often but i have made it clear that i like both of them alot and would be happy with either of them. but at the same time, there are rb's that will go in the 2nd round that are equal talents, if not better, such as coleman and ajayi. 

the thing is, jaelen strong is really the only one worth the pick out of the wr's at 26, and it is nearly certain that 1 of gordon or gurley will be there, so its a easier projection to make, and there are also a ton of wr's to hopefully choose from in our 2nd round range, but getting strong in the first and then coleman in the 2nd, i think would be a better combination than getting gordon/gurley and say, dorsett or perriman in the 2nd. 

i certainly wouldnt expect any pass rusher to be better than strong, i wouldnt even expect any pass rusher to be better than devin smith

I don't know..with two aging edge rushers …daryl smith entering his mid 30's ..Webb past it…and with no upgrade worth speaking of so far ( i wouldn't call lewis an upgrade thats particularly relevant) i don't see how we can be blind to the fact that theres too many holes in this team and not enough cap to fix them. Rookies need 2 years in skill positions to really take a team to the next level. I feel next year will be better than this year as we will have cap and a tonne of picks.

two aging edge rushers means nothing if they havent shown any kind of decline yet, we'll start talking about how old they are when they start to show it. webb came on strong at the end of the year after being so majorly affected by his injury throughout the regular season and offseason, and im not referring to an upgrade at FS, but with will hill stepping in full time our safety position should overall look more stable than it did last year. rookies dont need 2 years to make an impact, if mike evans or ODB was on the ravens last year you think they would have been a non factor or something? that makes no sense at all. 

we hear the same things every single offseason, but the fact of the matter is, we are dominant in the trenches on both sides, we have one of the winningest qb's in the league, and we have leadership. that is a formula for success and ozzie knows this, and he can fill in those blanks as well as anyone in the league, no team is absolutely perfect in this salary cap era, but the ravens will keep winning.

Yeah but all I'm talking about are a couple of simple tackles that would have been either no gain or tackles for a loss for 98% of all DB's in this league.

 

Small things..btw daniels TD chance wasn't easy..he had his arm swiped at and he had to stretch quite  bit for it.

the ball went unimpeded directly into both hands and bounced out. 

in that situation, you need to catch it, there is no if's and's or but's about it. sometimes you get boned by little slip-ups in the worst moments, but it shoulda been caught. 

on the subject of the strong safeties, you can say a whole lot of those things. if pitta was the TE in the endzone there then he woulda caught it, if boldin was going for that deep pass instead of torrey he would have prevented the interception, if dilfer was the qb he wouldnt have made the choice to throw that ball, etc. you can play an endless game of "if we had this player instead" but its pointless, we went much further than we should have, with our secondary we had no business taking it to the wire with the patriots, but we did anyway, and were gonna improve in this offseason, get our healthy jimmy back and barring any major injuries, we should be one of the favorites to make it to SB50, and we dont need our old players to do it.

I don't expect Ozzie to move any more than 5 spots as it would be way to expensive.  If we do pick at 26, I just don't see WR being BPA.  I wouldn't be surprised if Ozzie does his typical move and drafts an Edge rusher to develop for when Doom and Sizz are over the hill.

 

We have a lot of ammo in this draft and we would be better off trading up in the 2nd for a receiver than trying to jump a bunch of teams in the 1st or pick a guy who is not near BPA.

1. we have an absurd amount of picks this year, i wouldnt rule out a sizeable trade up if the right player falls. 

2. who would you expect BPA to be at 26? the only edge rusher that will be there at 26 is eli harold and he is a 2nd rounder. unless marcus peters is still there, or unless oz views gurley or gordon as the guy, then it is a strong possibility that a wr is the bpa(mainly jaelen strong if he hasnt been taken)

3. what you said about moving up for a wr in the 2nd, can be said about many positions, where the value is arguably better in the 2nd, such as rb, cb, or pass rusher, possibly even DE/DT.

I don't know, if Cooper and White are gone by the Minnesota pick, I think it's possible that Parker goes to Minnesota.  That being said, it's quite possible that Cooper falls out of the top 10 and goes to Minnesota.  White may be a freak and have a higher upside, but Cooper is the best route runner of the two and the most polished receiver in this class. 

if the raiders take kevin white i think cooper falls into the double digits, if cooper goes first i think another team in the top 10 gets enamored by his measurables and takes him. 

and call me crazy but if white goes first and cooper DOES fall to 10, i think ozzie starts thinking about a trade up to try to get him before the vikings do, although i think the rams would be asking for way too much, theyll probably have their sights set on someone at 10th. 

but yeah if cooper falls and ends up going to the vikings then the trade up for parker starts being considered i would guess, but if white and cooper both go top 10 then its safe to say parker goes at 11th

Miami would be ideal. I'd call them up and ask them what they're looking for and which prospect they're attempting to pick, if it's Parker then you might have to throw a load. 

i actually meant to say san fran would be ideal but i was thinking one thing and typing another lol

Unfortunately I disagree.  Teams like to have a vet #1/2 guy along with rookie receivers to help smooth the transition.  Any receiver worth taking will probably be off the board when we pick besides DGB.  

i didnt say he is gonna fall to 26.. i said nothing of the sort. i also didnt say that puts them out of the wr conversation for the first round, i said less likely. if they dont have a gaping hole at WR then they will comfortably be considering other picks if they see better value in them, instead of feeling they NEED to draft a WR to fill the void.

Cleveland really wants Bowe, if they draft Parker if could be a sign that they're done with Josh Gordon, but then again, Josh Gordon is too good for them to let go. They're trying to keep a hold of him. 

 

I hope he slips past 15, we def. have a great chance. 

i think the ideal scenario is SF at 15th, they have alot of needs, and it would take a bit to trade up there but it shouldnt be too bad, definitely worth it id say.

He's visiting Cleveland. Browns are very interested, apparently.

if he signs, thats just one more team ahead of us that is less likely to draft a WR. 

i had devante parker going to either the browns or miami, if they can both be scratched off the list i think parker is in official "trade up" territory, althought a bidding war may be imminent

Its amazing to me how many fans hit the panic button every February / March.

its amazing to me. what the eagles did this offseason, is along the lines of what we do every single year, and the ravens fans are acting like weve never lost key players and moved on without skipping a beat. 

our fans just dont give oz enough credit

solid signing, i dont think it blows anyones socks off, but with a top flight SS in will hill and a returning jimmy, our secondary looks less weak. lewis is certainly a better FS than darian stewart or matt elam. 

it doesnt suddenly give us an elite secondary or anything close to it, but we at least have the tools to not give up 14 point leads twice in one game or give up a 21 point lead in the 4th quarter.

Greg Jennings is exactly the cut Ozzie will wait for.

thats what i said. this is the reason ozzie doesnt overpursue during the free agent "frenzy" he waits for this exact situation. 

MAKE IT HAPPEN OZ!

He also put the team on his back and scored a game-winning TD with a broken leg...How many Raven WR's have done that? just sayin...

derrick mason did this for weeks with a separated shoulder. 

jennings has always reminded me of a faster mason. imo hes one of the most underrated and underappreciated receivers in the league, hes a stud in the west coast system and he would be lights out with joe

I just think its too early to give up on both Pierce and Taliaferro especially when you are talking about #2 and #3 roles. I think both could continue to improve although Pierce is probably on thin ice. With Forsett signed through 2017 I think we will be OK for at least this year. As with last year where everyone was so-so about the Steve Smith signing and expected Ozzie to go WR somewhere in the deepest WR class of all time...we found gold at other positions. The only thing I can't account for is the big board and BPA but either way I think we will continue to run the ball well next year.

there was no wr last year worth taking for the most part. the wr's were getting taken from right up under us in every round, and mosley was the best defender in the draft, while jernigan was a first round talent that fell to the mid 2nd, any pick besides those 2 would have not been ozzie-like. 

at 26th overall, the one player you can say is the slam dunk BPA is marcus peters, but its a slim chance that he makes it that far, after that you have gurley, gordon, and strong, no other players in that range are really in the same tier as them, and the same goes for 2nd round rb's, if coleman or ajayi is available it is extremely likely that they are the BPA. 

pierce is likely on his way out, and ozzie learned his lesson with putting all your trust in just one aging RB and an inexperienced backup, and while there is a chance no moves are made for a rb in draft or FA, you can bet its on ozzies radar and is up there on the priority list, even if its just to be cautious or to lock down the position for the future.

He always had a really good career YPC average and played well when given a chance, he just played behind more talented backs in future HoF players Lynch and MJD and a very good duo of Arian Foster and Ben Tate. It's not like he was terrible or anything.

he played well in a complementary role behind really good o-lines or in good run systems, which is something we have both of here. he has great vision and burst to be a solid piece, but the fact is that he is quite limited, he was breaking off moderate to long runs and going untouched for the most part. 

while im happy that hes back on the team, i still like the idea of drafting a rb high, getting a straight up stud instead of a guy who performs well within the system is something that could take our offense to the next level, having a RB who demands 8 guys in the box on every snap and still breaks off 5+YPC will allow us to move the ball more consistently, our run game will never be shut down and our play action game would be absolutely deadly, forsett is good and hes a great guy but he doesnt strike fear into defenses and open up our entire playbook like a gurley or coleman or ajayi would.

Lorenzo Tailiaferro showed a lot of poise in his rookie campaign. The only games where he got significant touches he played pretty well vs Cleveland (91yds TD), vs NO (58yds TD), and even against Cinci where he only had 9 touches for 69 yds and 2 TDs. And Bernard Pierce played decent when he got touches too.

Forsett will continue to be our workhorse and has proven that he can average 15-20 touches a game through 16 games with solid production and little to no wear, hes a tough guy and should be trusted to handle similar workloads this year once again. Tailiaferro and Pierce would serve as solid backups. I'm sure we will throw a couple RBs in the mix this off season for backup competition but I doubt we splurge on a RB with a high draft pick. As we were last year I think our RB situation will be fine...everyone just wants another dynamic pieces to our offense and hopes we will draft a RB or WR every year with an early pick but it seems Ozzie always has a more beneficial planning mind.

Shoot I remember 2-3 seasons the whole Ravens nation used to hope and pray for a Ray Rice release so Bernard Pierce could jump in and go off on the craziest projections...everyone thinking he would be BEAST all pro and everything else. LOL I guess everyone lost faith.

we lost faith in pierce because he doesnt play on an NFL level, he has no vision, lost his burst, his power, he is just a shell of what he was in his rookie season, he plays scared to sum it up. 

lorenzo talliaferro had a big day against a horrible run defense, and he racked up a large chunk of his yardage on WIDE OPEN holes that you could drive a truck through, and he caught a couple of wide open dump offs with tons of open field in front of him as well, aside from that he did not look good at all, he also has no vision, plays very tentative behind the line, dances around but not because of patience, more because he is uncertain of where to go, and he runs standing straight up which makes all that size virtually worthless, his lack of power and momentum when he runs is very concerning, considering the only thing he has going for him right now is being big and fast and he cant even use that to his advantage. he is a good 3rd down option though, good pass protector, good feel for when to release for the dump off and he can get up the field quick in those situations, but we have an excellent 3rd down option in juice already who is more of a mismatch in the flats than LT because of his brute force. 

he could adjust to the NFL eventually but from what i saw last year it looks like a longshot, another one of those guys with great physical potential that peak in college because they lack the intangibles.

My thoughts on RBs in general WHO CARES the only RBs I see as true beasts who don't need systems or stout olines to their benefit are Peterson, JCharles, Lacey, Lynch, and maybe McCoy. RBs to me are truly a dime a dozen which is why they slide so much in the draft along with injuries but every beast RB will get or has been injured so that's a given.

If you set up a stout online with mauling interior guys you can throw almost anyone in there and get solid production ie Forsett, Murray, Etc.

Forsett is an older guy with speed quickness and some decent hands with blockers who can get him in open space and let him do his thing. I feel like we probably won't invest more than a mid rd pick on drafting one. If Forsett gets injured Tsilaferro and Pierce can more than compensate.

just wondering, what has led you to believe this?